Homicide: A Year on The Killing Streets

Wire fans, this is where it all began. David Simon, who (if you don’t know) is the creator of The Wire, was once a journalist for the Baltimore Sun. He was a crime reporter for years before taking a leave of absence to follow the Baltimore police for a year. This book was the result, and when it was first released it sold, in Simon’s words, ‘about 11 copies’ in the UK. Slightly higher, actually, but not by much. But somehow it’s survived to be reprinted (a succesful HBO series helped) and it’s a pleasure to read. The book, like The Wire, follows a large number of characters, but unlike The Wire, it’s focused on the lives of the police almost exclusively. The TV show has a wider scale, examining society and the system the police work within. Here we are seeing things, as the title suggests, mostly from street level. That’s not an easy angle – there were over two hundred murders in Baltimore that year, and we’re plunged into the sort of situation that creates that figure in this book. Yet it’s a fascinating, and somehow still humane book. Watch the 650 pages disappear as you race through it.